CO-OP/CONDO BUYERS

In July, the Second Friendship Baptist Church sold the horse stable-turned church building to a private buyer for $1.5 million. A couple of weeks later, the city approved the new owner's plan to demolish it. It's hardly a surprise that, in a city where the divide between the haves and the have-nots continues to widen, longtime residents have to pack it in because they can't keep up with skyrocketing rents — never mind the expenses required to maintain an old, charming building. But it is certainly always sad to see a rare old structure like this former horse stable get knocked down so a six-story building can rise in its place. The local block association seems to agree; it is still trying to save at least part of the church. "What we are hoping is to save the façade or incorporate the design of the façade into the new design," Cindy Worley, who has lived on the block more than 30 years, told DNAinfo. "I think it would be a benefit to have a set of condos on the street reminiscent of the carriage house. I mean you could call it the 'Stable House.'" Citing records, DNAinfo reports that "plans for a new building were filed [late last week] and have not yet been approved by the Department of Buildings." As for the new owner, mum's the word for now. In the meantime, the block association has its work cut out for it. Like savvy New Yorkers, however, they seem to have realized that if they cannot appeal to the new owner's sense nostalgia, perhaps they can appeal to the wallet: "By saving what is left of the stable the developers could benefit from tax credits, similar to the ones the developers of the Corn Exchange Building received."

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Co-op and condo owners in New York often have to put up with quite a lot. The city's hustle and bustle means lots of construction, huge crowds, and relentless noise. Buying into a cooperative or condo is a huge investment, and quite naturally, those who do will want to enjoy a bit of peace and quiet in their new homes. But what happens when, say, a café opens up next door and a cacophony of voices begins to disrupt your quality of life? That's the question Ronda Kaysen tackles in this week's Ask Real Estate column in The New York Times. An apartment owner in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, writes: "This summer a cafe opened on an adjacent street and put tables out on a newly built deck that directly abuts my yard. The cafe built a six-foot fence atop my five-foot fence, making an 11-foot barricade to sunlight. This I could live with. What I can’t live with is the noise. Saturdays and Sundays are ruined by loud conversations and crying babies. I can also hear the noise inside my apartment." What's a person to do? Kaysen offers a multi-tiered solution. First, try talking to the café's owner — nicely. If that goes nowhere, go the community board. You can also try the Department of Buildings to see if the café has the proper permits, whether it filed plans describing the use of the space, whether it violates any rules about fire exits and emergency lighting, or if the space is even zoned for commercial use. And if that goes nowhere? Hit them where it hurts: "If the cafe has a liquor license, call the State Liquor Authority to complain. If a restaurateur is going to listen to anyone, he or she will listen to the agency that doles out liquor licenses."

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When you live in a crowded city like New York where space is at a premium, you have to be a little creative. Take, for instance, the condo heading to West Chelsea. YIMBY got an updated look at the cantilevering project that will rise at 251 West 14th Street. Designed by ODA and developed by B+B Capital, "the structure will be relatively small, and the assemblage allows for a building measuring 24,000 square feet. Condominiums are currently envisioned, with 11 floor-through units planned," reports YIMBY, adding: "Cantilevers are becoming typical among the larger towers in New York City, but their application when it comes to smaller-scale construction is significantly more limited." Hey, it may not be the ideal choice for someone with vertigo, but it sure does look cool.

Rendering of 251 West 14th Street by ODA

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When it comes to selling your apartment, you can use all the help you can get.

You've heard all the sayings: one is the loneliest number, it takes two to tango, there's no "I" in team, two brokers are better than one. Well, maybe you've never heard the last phrase, but as a board member and a potential seller of your apartment, you may want to consider it.

So what is a co-broker arrangement, and what can it do for you? 

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Wasn't it just a few days ago that we were talking about a 17-story condo rising in place of a garage between Broadway and West End Avenue — just outside the Upper West Side's historic district? Well, it looks like the UWS has lost another garage, this one located at 221 West 77th Street. According to Curbed, this is developer Naftali Group's second garage-to-condo conversion, and it's been in progress for some time now. "With a design by Danish architect Thomas Juul-Hansen and a selection of 26 two- to five-bedroom condos, it's not slated for occupancy until 2017, [but] its units are officially on the." How much are we talkin'? Prices range from $4 million — what a bargain — to a whopping $23 million clams. What's in it for those who buy? It looks like it's the usual suspects: fitness center, basketball court, on-site parking, and a roof deck. 

Rendering: Naftali Group

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It was more than two months ago that a judge ruled in favor of the remaining seniors left at the Prospect Park Residence retirement facility. Known as one of Park Slope's worst landlords, Haysha Deitsch has successfully forced out 130 residents so he can build an 11-story luxury condo building in its place. Apparently, Deitsch is still at war with the remaining residents. According to Curbed, "a previous deal to sell the building for $76.5 million fell through when the tenants would not leave. He's previously been charged with refusing to turn on the building's air-conditioning, raising the rents, and handing residents eviction notices when they refused to pay increased rents." Regardless of the continued hostilities at 1 Prospect Park West, it looks like Deitsch has plans to build more luxury condos over on Fourth Avenue. He filed building permits at 243 Fourth Avenue last Wednesday, reports Curbed, which indicate an 118-foot-tall, 11-story residential development with 35,500 square feet. There will be 16 apartments total averaging about 2,000 square feet per unit. Citing YIMBY, Curbed adds that the building amenities will include "a pet spa, bike storage, a children's play room in the cellar, and a recreation space on the third floor. There will also be 3,171 square feet of commercial space and a 271-square-foot community facility on the ground floor." 

Photo via Google Street View 

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This week's Ask Real Estate column in The New York Times illustrates perfectly why it's in a board's best interests to keep the lines of communication open with building residents. Arguably, a significant amount of grief can be prevented if building residents are allowed to see why boards operate the way they do and understand the types of everyday building-wide situations they constantly confront. It sounds like things are about to get tense at a co-op on the Upper West Side. One building resident there writes to Ronda Kaysen: "Our co-op board has announced a window replacement project for the entire building because some owners have difficulty operating the windows. The owners of each apartment must provide access to the windows, which means removing and reinstalling all window treatments and, in our case, custom built-in furniture around the windows. This will be costly and inconvenient…. Are we permitted to opt out of the replacement project? Our existing windows are fine." Kaysen explains that windows are a bigger deal than they may seem to this particular building resident. "When buildings want new ones," she writes back, "they invariably want to change them all for reasons of energy efficiency but also to maintain a uniform appearance. A patchwork of different window styles could look odd…. If you were to refuse to let the co-op replace the windows, the co-op could sue you, potentially leaving you on the hook for both the building's legal fees and your own." 

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Last week, we brought you the story of a new nine-story luxury condominium building being constructed next to a five-story, 19th-century tenement in Manhattan. It provides a concise case study of what boards need to do and what they need to avoid — as well as the kinds of surprises they should expect — when an adjacent lot becomes a construction site. The board at the tenement decided that, rather than try to fight the inevitable, they would instead establish an amicable working relationship with the developer. But even then they had to prepare for the unknowns ahead. 

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It's getting to feel like you can't swing a cat without hitting a condo on 14th Street. A New York YIMBY reader sent the publication photos of a new rendering showing the planned condo that will rise at 209 West 14th Street. The four-story building that stood in there was just demolished to make way for the new eleven-story condo. "The 119-foot-tall structure will hold 21 apartments, along with commercial and community space," according to YIMBY. Citing the Schedule A filing, YIMBY reports that the "ground floor will have 464 square feet devoted to retail, a little 284-square-foot 'community center,' and the lower half of a duplex. Then the second floor will include the rest of the duplex and two other units. Between one and three units apiece will occupy the remaining stories, with a full-floor penthouse on the 11th floor." In all, we're talking 21 apartments divided across 35,959 square feet of residential space, which means potential buyers can expect spacious apartments averaging 1,712 square feet each. Not too shabby. 

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Even as Community Board 2 gave the green light in July for the controversial Brooklyn Heights Library redevelopment project to move forward opponents heckled and protested. They had nothing to lose anymore. But it looks like it isn't quite over. DNAinfo reports that the redevelopment is now "facing opposition from Borough President Eric Adams, who [this week] released a slew of recommendations for the project, including more affordable housing and local school seats." Although he has only an advisory role in the planning process, he conditionally disapproved the 280 Cadman Plaza West project under the city's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, DNAinfo reports. Hudson Companies, in partnership with Marvel Architects, "had promised 114 off-site low-income units in Clinton Hill but Adams is pushing to have all affordable housing within the Brooklyn Heights development." Among his many recommendations, Adams is asking that the project address the very issues many of the locals who oppose the move have been highlighting in their protests: that the project address "overcrowding in local schools and maintain all residential units related to the development as 'permanently affordable.'" The City Planning Commission will consider the borough president's recommendations Tuesday, September 22. 

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